Chapter 11
Putting Your Finger
on Pointing Devices
In This Chapter
Translating from your hand to the screen
Maintaining and repairing pointing devices
Attaching an external unit
A
mouse — or a trackball, pointing stick, or touchpad — gives you a way
to reach into your computer’s display to issue a command, move a
graphic or block of text, or scroll a screen up and down, left and right. It is
an all but essential part of operating systems based on a graphical user inter-
face; the most common GUI(techies actually call this a gooey) is Microsoft
Windows in its various incarnations. Other GUIs include Apple’s various
operating systems, as well as Linux.Whatever the controlling device is called, the end result is the ability to move
a pointer on the screen with great precision and execute various high-tech
activities including point-and-click, grab and hold, highlighting, painting, sam-
pling, and more.Keeping the Ball Rolling ..............................................................................
Pointing devices translate the movement of your hand or finger (or some spe-
cialized tools for people with special needs) based on either mechanicalor
opticalsensors. Let me differentiate among the most common types of point-
ing devices.